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1. When God Is Silent
John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
I recall Thanksgiving 1983 as the worst one of my life. It came about six months after the death of our younger son. It was midnight hour in the valley of the shadow of death. The shock had worn off, and I was trying to accept the unacceptable. I could not imagine life ever becoming good again. On Thanksgiving Day we gathered for dinner with relatives at the home of my wife's parents. Routinely, ...
Sermon
Thomas Slavens
Easter Sunday • Easter Sunday • Easter Whatever one’s view of death, death will come to each person. Shakespeare was right when he wrote: Golden lads and girls all must,As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.6 Many people face death with some misgivings, as they face any new experience. Some do not want the subject mentioned. However, to refuse to face death realistically is as ridiculous as it is to r...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Once upon a time there was a man whose name was Lazarus. He owned a nice home in the little town of Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. Mary and Martha were his sisters. Jesus liked to spend his spare time with these three close friends. He who lamented that He had no place to lay His head found friendship and hospitality there. Martha was a great cook. Mary gave relaxing massages. Lazarus proved...
Sermon
Eric Ritz
Today we come to the greatest miracle and perhaps the greatest of all the "I am" statements found in the gospel of John. We have learned that Jesus is the Light of the world, the Door, and the Good Shepherd. We will learn today that Jesus alone has absolute power over life and death. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because his light shines in the darkest of circumstances, and can open any door--even th...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
It is time we started believing what we believe. Either television writers have finally run out of ideas for bad situation comedies or the baby boomers' nostalgic longing for their 60s youth is simply in control of the airwaves. Whatever. In our retro-chic craziness, there is now a resurgence of some of the corniest and kitschiest of 1960s programming. One of the biggest new/old hits is that sil...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
This gospel according to John is filled with a series of vivid verbal masterpieces of the genius, glory, and grace of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Bible scholars have long believed that each of the four New Testament gospels is targeted at a particular group. Matthew writes his gospel to the Jews. We see that in his frequent references to the Old Testament. Mark writes his gospel with the Romans as hi...
Sermon
Lee Griess
When the famous agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, died, the printed funeral program left this solemn instruction. It read: "There will be no singing." For without faith, few feel like singing in the face of death. Running, perhaps. Crying, certainly. But not singing. Not in the face of death. For without faith, death steals our reason to sing. Death takes the song off our lips and leaves in its place st...
8. No More Tears
John 11:17-37
Sermon
King Duncan
You may have noticed that our lessons for today from Revelation and from the Gospel of John both involve tears. In one passage Jesus weeps. In the other, God wipes away tears from His children’s eyes. All of us can relate to the idea of crying. We’ve all done it at some time in our lives. Of course some people cry easier than others and people cry for different reasons. “You don’t love me anymor...
9. Lazarus Rising
John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44
Sermon
John 11:1-46 (suggested reading of only 32-44) The story for this morning begins with a certain sense of urgency. It is easy to stand here now and talk about it with some sense of calm, but I can assure you that there was no calm for Martha and Mary. They were beginning to panic. Lazarus, their brother, was slipping fast. Indeed, it looked as though he would not make it. Now, I want you to envis...
Sermon
R. E. Lybrand
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! B...
11. But What of Lazarus?
John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44
Sermon
David & Marian Plant
There is a cave. It is a tomb. There is a stone. It must be rolled away. And strips of cloth — cloths for burial. There is weeping. There is death. Jesus had come to Bethany. Lazarus was dead. “If you had been here,” Martha said, “If you had been here.” Her understanding of Jesus was such that from the very core of her being she trusted that had he been there, her brother would not have died. Eve...
12. When Jesus Arrives Late
John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37
Sermon
Thomas Long
It is very easy to move too quickly past the beginning of this story about Jesus and Lazarus. We rush past the beginning because the rest of the story appears, at first glance, to be far more fascinating. Indeed, most of the time it is what Jesus did all the way at the end of the story that galvanizes our attention. There, after all, is the main drama, since it was at the end of the story that Jes...
Sermon
Steven Molin
Mary and Martha; remember them? They are the sisters who were hosting Jesus for dinner one evening, except that Martha did all the work, and Mary sat at Jesus' feet for the Bible study. And when Martha complains to Jesus about it, Jesus corrects her! "Martha, Martha, you worry about so many things, but just one thing is necessary ... and Mary chose it." Ouch! Today's gospel lesson offers us anoth...
Sermon
William G. Carter
By all appearances, the junior high youth group at First Church was going well. Bob and Betsy, their two enthusiastic advisors, planned a full calendar of events to keep them busy. The youth went to roller skating parties and winter retreats. They played a variety of sports, discussed a lot of movies, and celebrated every holiday with a party. But when it came to leading the young teens into the d...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
I find it fascinating that nowhere in the New Testament do the disciples try to explain the resurrection.  They did not need to.  The resurrection explained them!  The entire New Testament itself plus all of the subsequent history of the Church over the past two thousand years is but a commentary on Jesus’ words, “I am the resurrection and the life!” (John 11:25) Let’s take a look at how these wo...
16. Lazarus Laughed
John 11:17-37
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
I have always felt sorry for Lazarus.  I mean, dying once is bad enough; but this poor fellow had to go through the whole ordeal a second time!  And for what?  At first glance, it seems as though he was recalled to this earth for the mere purpose of fortifying his sister’s faith.  Then he would have to go through the process of dying once again. We are all familiar with the story.  Jesus receives...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
I want to tell you about a grave in Peru. I shared this story with you about ten years ago when a grave of a warrior priest was discovered near the pyramids of the ancient Moche Indians. The Moche Indians preceded the Incas in Peru. Their graves have yielded a treasure trove of artifacts, and a thriving black market for the residents in that isolated, northern part of Peru. The inhabitants up the...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
I would like to begin this sermon with a few rhetorical questions. In your heart give truthful answers. Are you living or merely surviving? When you get to where you are going, where will you be? Living is a thing you do, now or never, which do you do? Would anybody here like to live forever? On this Memorial Day weekend, I would like to talk about life: meaningful life, abundant life, everlastin...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Would anybody here like to live forever? At the crossroads of faith we come today to discuss the question of immortality. Yes, Virginia, there is a heaven. Yes, Jim, you can live forever. I believe that with all of my heart. Yet to explain the unexplainable and to describe the indescribable and to peek through the shadows of earth and catch a glimpse of eternity is often more than our grieving mi...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Edna Lashon tells the story of visiting with a friend of hers whose husband had died. They went out the graveyard where the husband had been buried and they began to share together memories of their life and their relationship it was a meaningful time as they probed in memory and got in touch with all the joyful times of their life. But then there was silence. No one seemed to have anything else t...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Tears are our first words. The beginning way we have of communicating is through tears. Is there anything that gets a baby more attention than tears? Is there anything that can command complete, immediate devotion more than a torrent of tears. Is there anything that can makes adults feel more dismal, daunted, desperate than the wailing of an infant? Our baby’s tears can bring us to tears as well...
Sermon
King Duncan
"Hey, Buddy," said the taxicab passenger, as he tapped the driver on the shoulder. The driver screamed and lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, jumped the curb and stopped just inches from a huge plate-glass window. For a few minutes, everything was dead still and silent. Then the driver said, "Man, you scared the living daylights out of me'" "I'm sorry," said the passenger. "I didn't reali...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
We are approaching an exciting time of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. Times of celebration. Times for friends and family. Times of joy. And for some, times of incredible sadness. The holidays will be hard because someone with whom previous special days were shared is gone. To paraphrase Tennyson's In Memoriam, "Never Christmas wore to New Year's but some heart did break." If you h...
24. Death Stinks
John 11:17-37
Sermon
Johnny Dean
All of us have been there, or will be there someday – where Mary and Martha are in the story of the death of Lazarus. Having prayed as hard as we can for the recovery of someone we love, we find ourselves grieving their loss, wondering what we will do without them. Or we will find ourselves wondering where Jesus is, trying to comfort a sorrowing family member or friend, wondering what in the world...
Sermon
Dean Lueking
I am the Resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. (John 11:25) An Unsurpassed Word of Comfort Without question, these words of our Lord are unsurpassed in the comfort, assurance, and strength they bring to all who hear them in faith. To know that the blank, the ache, and the emptiness which death brings have been met and conquered by one who is equal to...
Showing 1 to 25 of 55 results